Search results

1 – 10 of over 3000
Article
Publication date: 4 April 2016

Sérgio Lagoa and Fátima Suleman

– The purpose of this paper is to estimate the impact of industry and occupation skills on the wages of displaced workers due to firm closure.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the impact of industry and occupation skills on the wages of displaced workers due to firm closure.

Design/methodology/approach

Using linked employer-employee data on displaced workers, this paper estimates the impact of industry and occupation tenure on post-displacement wage changes correcting for endogeneity with a multinomial logit model.

Findings

The evidence suggests that occupation has more specific skill requirements than industry. Displaced workers moving both industry and occupation suffer a higher wage decline than those changing only industry or occupation. Furthermore, the transferability of skills varies across occupations and industries; more specifically, intermediate-level occupations are more demanding in specific skills and impose higher wages losses for displaced workers. Finally, the economic crisis reduced the return on firm-specific skills only in some cases.

Practical implications

The examination of skill specificity/transferability helps firms, workers and policy makers to draw strategies and policies to improve their individual situation and social welfare. The analysis suggest that when experienced workers are displaced and forced to find a job in a different industry, they suffer considerable wage cuts. While displacement imposes costs to workers and society, different choices impact wages differently.

Originality/value

To the authors’ best knowledge, this is the first paper studying the simultaneous impact of industry and occupation tenure on wages using displaced workers due to firm closing. The paper also corrects for the selection of different alternatives after the displacement and uses data from a country characterised by low-job flows and low-worker flows. Finally, the impact of economic crises on return to skills is assessed.

Details

International Journal of Manpower, vol. 37 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-7720

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 March 2020

Rosa Lombardi, Raffaele Trequattrini, Benedetta Cuozzo and Paola Paoloni

Over recent decades, knowledge transfer processes and knowledge-intensive organizations have been increasingly investigated from several perspectives. Knowledge translation…

Abstract

Purpose

Over recent decades, knowledge transfer processes and knowledge-intensive organizations have been increasingly investigated from several perspectives. Knowledge translation activated by knowledge-intensive organizations is supported by several factors, among which intangible assets play a significant role. Our research mainly investigates the relationship between the knowledge owned by knowledge workers in source organizations and the process of its translation to recipient organizations. Specifically, this paper aims at analyzing knowledge translation and organizational performance in the football industry, uncovering both the role of professional football players' skills transfer and the determinants of achieving positive performance at the organizational level.

Design/methodology/approach

A quantitative method is adopted, using both bivariate linear regression analysis and network analysis. Using key aspects of Nakauchi et al.'s (2007) knowledge transfer framework, intra-organizational dynamics are analyzed based on measurements of the performance of professional football players before and after transferring from one club (the source organization) to another (the recipient organization).

Findings

Our research results are mainly intended to show the factors that influence knowledge translation in the light of team performance improvement. Our empirical analysis shows the need for the coexistence of a combination of factors, especially the quality of the source and recipient organizations and of the relationship between them, to achieve the transferability of professional football players' capabilities and performance.

Practical implications

The academic community, practitioners and policymakers can draw on the theoretical and practical advances made by the findings to address knowledge translation issues with an improved understanding of its factors and determinants.

Originality/value

Despite some limitations to the study, we identify the factors, determinants and contexts that facilitate the transfer of knowledge and specialist knowledge and thus contribute to the successful operation of contemporary organizations. Moreover, the results of our analysis are applicable to all economic sectors.

Details

Management Decision, vol. 58 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0025-1747

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 January 2017

Heike Behle

Using the example of an amalgamated secondary school qualification (International Baccalaureate Career-related Programme – IBCP), in which both vocational education and training…

Abstract

Purpose

Using the example of an amalgamated secondary school qualification (International Baccalaureate Career-related Programme – IBCP), in which both vocational education and training (VET) and academic subjects are taught, the paper aims to discuss the use of skills and knowledge gained during the IBCP for post-secondary school activities.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses mixed method data based on a survey of 57 IBCP graduates and qualitative interviews with 20 IBCP graduates. Findings relate to the role of the IBCP in the careers decision-making process, the skills and competences students gained during their IBCP and its transferability to their current activity.

Findings

After their IBCP, more than half of all observed students had entered higher education. Whilst a few students did not engage actively in the career decision-making process, some were pro-active and used different sources to gain information. However, a large group of students used their time during the IBCP to test various occupational ideas and, thus, used their VET to further the careers decision-making process. Most students reported that they could transfer the skills and competencies they had gained during their secondary school to their current activity.

Originality/value

The paper calls for a renunciation of the ambivalent signals an amalgamated secondary school degree can provide. IBCP students signal both an increased productivity because of an increased level of vocational skills and a lower level of academic achievement. These signals, however, allow students to enter a highly diverse higher education system, especially in vocational courses.

Details

European Journal of Training and Development, vol. 41 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-9012

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 August 2018

Vidmantas Tūtlys, Jonathan Winterton and Odeta Liesionienė

This paper aims to investigate issues affecting the integration of retired military officers into civilian work using a competence model as an analytical framework.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate issues affecting the integration of retired military officers into civilian work using a competence model as an analytical framework.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper combines literature review with empirical study. The primary method of data collection was a series of in-depth, face-to-face interviews with 25 retired army officers in Lithuania.

Findings

Despite evidence that a career as an officer in the military develops valuable competencies that have obvious potential in the civilian labour market, the integration of retired army officers into the civilian labour market is fraught with difficulties. Apart from the obvious inappropriateness of specific competencies associated with armed combat for civilian occupations, even competencies acquired in military service that align closely with those required in civilian jobs do not necessarily translate because of different contexts and different value systems.

Research limitations/implications

The empirical basis is limited to army officers in Lithuania, and the authors urge caution in extrapolating to other military personnel and other countries. To the extent that the approach has generic value, there are clearly implications for demobilisation after major conflicts or return to civilian life of personnel involved in international peace-keeping.

Practical implications

This exploratory research suggests that a competence framework can identify limits and possibilities of aligning competencies acquired in military service with those required in civilian occupations, provided context and values are incorporated as part of the analysis. The approach piloted in this paper could be useful more widely for facilitating mobility between sectors and occupations arising from the adoption of disruptive technologies.

Originality/value

The paper demonstrates the value of a structured approach to comparing competencies in context and the mediating role of values in moving from military to civilian occupations.

Details

European Journal of Training and Development, vol. 42 no. 5/6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-9012

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 April 2016

Karen Modesta Olsen

The purpose of this paper is to examine how occupations and the institutional setting shape the power balance (individual bargaining power) between employees and employers. It…

1599

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine how occupations and the institutional setting shape the power balance (individual bargaining power) between employees and employers. It builds on theoretical approaches on knowledge work and institutional theory.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses the European Social Survey data in 2010/2011 to compare the power balance between employees and employers in three countries: Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. Multinomial logit regression was employed.

Findings

The results show that occupation and the institutional setting shape the power balance between employees and employers. Employees in highly skilled occupations perceive greater power vis-à-vis their employer, and employees in Denmark, characterized by greater flexibility for employers, perceive less power than in Sweden and Norway. In addition, age and gender are important demographic factors determining employees’ perceived power towards their employers.

Originality/value

The literature makes a number of assumptions with regard to the attitudes and behaviour of knowledge workers. However, research that compares employees in knowledge work with other occupational groups is scarce. This paper adds to the literature by comparing employees in highly skilled knowledge work with employees in lower skilled occupations. It also empirically shows how different approaches to definitions of knowledge work correspond.

Details

Employee Relations, vol. 38 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0142-5455

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 December 2023

Somayeh Ghorbani and Seyed Ebrahim Jafari

The present study aimed to develop the competencies of 21st-century learners by considering the characteristics of the education element in the curricula.

Abstract

Purpose

The present study aimed to develop the competencies of 21st-century learners by considering the characteristics of the education element in the curricula.

Design/methodology/approach

The study employed a qualitative research design and a content analysis technique. The research population consisted of 20 curriculum design professors selected via a snowball sampling method until data saturation was reached. The research instrument was semistructured interviewing. The content validity of the interview questions was determined according to 5 curriculum design experts' opinions. Four credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability criteria were used to increase the accuracy of qualitative data. The findings were analyzed using thematic analysis (structural-interpretive) through open, axial and selective coding.

Findings

Education characteristics in competency-based curricula were categorized into knowledge, skills, attitude and educational values. Knowledge includes pedagogical knowledge, content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge and pedagogical technological knowledge; teaching skills include organization, facilitation, care and flexibility; educational attitudes consist of educational and pedagogical attitudes; and educational values include individual and group-social values.

Originality/value

The present research put three critical dimensions together: the competencies of the new-age learners from the perspective of the curriculum, which is the heart of the education process and is aimed at sustainable development, which is the priority of the countries today.

Details

Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2050-7003

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 September 2015

Michel Ferrary

The purpose of this paper is explore an organizational design that allows firms to invest in transferable strategic human capital. Strategic human capital requires considerable…

5067

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is explore an organizational design that allows firms to invest in transferable strategic human capital. Strategic human capital requires considerable investment in training costs, effective compensation, opportunities for professional development and expectancy of long employment relationship within a firm. A firm can undertake investment in strategic knowledge and workers can engage in learning only in these circumstances. However, there are a number of risks that are associated with investment in strategic human capital within a firm. In this paper, the author argues that providing strategic human capital to other firms within alliances could be a strategy for leveraging resource. Strategic knowledge facilitates transactions between firms possessing co-specialized human capital and tangible resources. Organizational design of an alliance based on co-specialization allows to balance costs and returns for the human capital supplier, as well as for beneficiary and workers. Within an alliance, the human capital supplier provides workers to a beneficiary firm and coordinates their activities. Supplier specialized in human capital investment ensures improved performance, productivity and efficiency of workers. Possibility to form a greater pool of labor force and to centralize training allows optimizing cost and sharing risks associated with investment activity among alliance participants. Human resource practices in an alliance system foster long-term employment relationship. Entering an alliance increases number of job positions, professional development opportunities through horizontal mobility, promotion and learning opportunities for workers. Finally, alliances allow leveraging investment in human capital beyond a single organization.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper conceptualizes the use of alliance based on co-specialization as a strategy to optimize investment in strategic human capital resource. It draws upon the resource-based view (Barney, 1991; Wernerfelt, 1995) and transaction cost theory (Coase, 1937; Williamson, 1981) to examine an alliance as a strategy for leveraging the human capital resources for accessing new markets, building reputation and sharing the risks across more than one organization.

Findings

First, the paper reviews the theoretical literature on human capital as a strategic resource (Becker, 1962; Coff, 1997), its sourcing on internal and external labor markets and respective employment systems (Delery and Doty, 1996; Doeringer and Piore, 1971). Second, it focuses on the features of human capital resource (Barney, 1986; Chi, 1994; Doz and Hamel, 1998). Third, it conceptualizes the use of alliances based on co-specialization as organizational structures for investment in human capital across organizations and examines respective employment system and HR practices (Delery and Doty, 1996; Doeringer and Piore, 1971). As result, the author argues that an alliance can be an alternative mean to optimize returns on investment in human capital with strategic transferable knowledge. By consequence, the author describes an alliance employment system and illustrates the arguments with a case of human capital trading in a co-specialization alliance under a long-term management contract in the luxury hotel industry.

Originality/value

This paper discusses collaborative ventures as a sourcing strategy of the human capital. An alliance strategy is relevant for sourcing the strategic human capital resources. Human capital resource can be accessed by firms through transfer of skills and organizational routines within collaborative agreements, such as alliances based on co-specialization. In this case, alliance is an organizational architecture between organizations that improves the efficiency and productivity, reduces marginal cost on training due to larger scale of operations and reduces risk by splitting investment in human capital and by offering more career and development opportunities for strategic knowledge workers.

Details

Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. 19 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1367-3270

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 December 2004

Patricia Ordóñez de Pablos

The aim of this paper is to analyze knowledge flows transfer within multinational corporations. In particular, it is focused on to what extent multinational companies can…

6974

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyze knowledge flows transfer within multinational corporations. In particular, it is focused on to what extent multinational companies can replicate headquarters’ human resource management systems in subsidiaries. This paper is structured into three major sections. The paper analyzes the transfer of knowledge flows in multinational companies. To analyze this “old problem” and shed light on its solution, the paper draws on the knowledge‐based view of the firm and reviews both seminal and recent contributions to this field of research. This paper develops a conceptual framework for the analysis of knowledge transfer at international level. It also examines the influence of four human resource management models (exported, adapted, hybrid and open models) on organizations. It addresses particular factors that influence the transferability of organizational knowledge such as the features of this knowledge and both organizational and national culture. Afterwards, these issues are addressed in the scenario of North‐American and Japanese multinational corporations. Multinational firms face important challenges in the actual economic environment. On the one hand, the firm must learn how to exploit its specific resources either acquired in the country of origin or in foreign markets. On the other hand, these firms cannot forget that the source of sustained competitive advantage takes place in the variety of skills and the diversity of knowledge, no in these resources homogeneity. Finally, multinational firms can benefit from international fertilization, because knowledge exploring and exploitation activities are closely relationed with the concepts of synergies, interdependence and interactive organizational learning. That is, the organizational capacity to innovate is the result of the interrelation among the units that form the firm. This paper offers a knowledge‐based view of the firm to help managers with the management of knowledge flows in multinational companies.

Details

Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. 8 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1367-3270

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 August 2014

Nina Neubecker

The purpose of this paper is to break down south-north migration along both the skill and the occupational dimension and thus to distinguish and compare several types of

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to break down south-north migration along both the skill and the occupational dimension and thus to distinguish and compare several types of south-north migration and brain drain.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper presents south-north migration rates by occupational category at two distinct levels of disaggregation according to International Standard Classification of Occupations 1988 (ISCO-88). The data sets combine information about the labor market outcomes of immigrants in Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) countries around the year 2000 provided by the Database on Immigrants in OECD Countries by the OECD with employment data for the developing migrant-sending countries from the International Labour Organization.

Findings

The incidence of south-north migration was highest among Professionals, one of the two occupational categories generally requiring tertiary education, and among clerks and legislators, senior officials and managers. At the more disaggregated level, physical, mathematical and engineering science (associate) professionals, life science and health (associate) professionals, as well as other (associate) professionals exhibited significantly larger brain drain rates than teaching (associate) professionals. The data also suggest non-negligible occupation-education mismatches due to the imperfect transferability of skills acquired through formal education because south-north migrants with a university degree worked more often in occupational categories requiring less than tertiary education compared to OECD natives. The employment shares of most types of professionals and technicians and associate professionals, as well as of clerks and corporate managers were significantly smaller in the migrant-sending countries compared to the receiving countries.

Originality/value

The constructed data sets constitute the first comprehensive data sets on south-north migration by ISCO-88 major and sub-major occupational category for cross-sections of, respectively, 91 and 17 developing countries of emigration.

Article
Publication date: 29 September 2021

Arthur Yan Huang, Tyler Fisher, Huiling Ding and Zhishan Guo

This paper aims to examine transferable skills and viable career transition pathways for hospitality and tourism workers. Future career prospects are discussed, along with the…

1311

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine transferable skills and viable career transition pathways for hospitality and tourism workers. Future career prospects are discussed, along with the importance of reskilling for low-wage hospitality workers.

Design/methodology/approach

A network analysis is conducted to model skill relationships between the hospitality industry and other industries such as health-care and information technology. Multiple data are used in the analysis, including data from the US Department of Labor Occupational Information Network (O*NET), wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and job computerization data (Frey and Osborne, 2017).

Findings

Although hospitality workers have lower than average skills scores when compared to workers from other career clusters included in the analysis, they possess essential soft skills that are valuable in other industries. Therefore, improving hospitality workers’ existing soft skills may help them enhance their cross-sector mobility, which may allow them to obtain jobs with a lower likelihood of computerization.

Practical implications

The findings shed light on workforce development theories and practice in the hospitality industry by quantitatively analyzing cross-sector skill correlations. Sharpening transferable soft skills will be essential to enhancing hospitality workers’ career development opportunities.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that specifically examines the skill taxonomy for the hospitality industry and identifies its connection with other in-demand career clusters.

Details

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 33 no. 12
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-6119

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 3000